Journalist shares behind-the scenes stories from U.S. Supreme Court

Journalist Marcia Coyle speaks about her career covering the U.S. Supreme Court during the fourth Seminars at Steamboat talk Monday.

It may seem like the U.S. Supreme Court laid relatively low this past year, but veteran journalist Marcia Coyle thinks that will likely change following a particularly tumultuous presidential election.

Coyle, a lawyer who has covered the high court for 28 years, shared her intimate knowledge with a packed house during the fourth Seminars at Steamboat event Monday night.

Coyle makes regular appearances on PBS' The NewsHour and is the chief Washington, D.C. correspondent for The National Law Journal.

Coyle said it was her first time to Colorado, and she was excited to get out of the nation's capital, where these days a reporter's morning starts out with a reaction of "He tweeted what?" referring to "tweeter-in-chief" President Donald Trump's affinity for delivering the news via Twitter.

Coyle, author of "The Roberts Court: The Struggle for the Constitution," talked about how the court took on low-profile cases last term due to a harsh political environment.

With the death of conservative Antonin Scalia and a divided court, Coyle said there was a concerted effort to avoid partisan split decisions.

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Scalia's death further complicated the political environment as the U.S. Senate for nearly a year refused to hold a vote on President Barack Obama's liberal nominee Merrick Garland.

Coyle said she does not think there is an easy way to force the Senate to take up a nomination in the future.